"Mr. Bouchard. This is the NYPD calling. Do you know anyone by the name
Jake Parker?"

"Yes. He is my room mate." I was worried. What was this about?

"Mr. Bouchard. Jake has been in an accident."

"What? How?
Is...Is...he...oka...okay?" Is he dead?

"He is admitted in Gracie Square Hospital"

"I will be there"

Relax, Josh. Nothing has happened to Jake. He is going to be fine. I took
the key to lock the apartment. I couldn't lock the door. The key kept
falling off from my trembling hands.

I was driving like a maniac. I thought I saw a police patrol car behind
me, but I was just hallucinating. I never thought I could make it to the
hospital.

"What is his
name Sir?" a lady at the reception asked me.

"Jake Parker..." I said.

"He is in the emergency. No, wait. He is discharged!"

"Discharged?"

"Hey buddy, looking for me?"

I looked around and it was Jake. He was holding crutches in his hands. I
wanted to hug him tightly and kiss him right then.

"Jake!" I couldn't explain how relieved I was to see him in one piece!
"What happened?"

"After we left the club, we were crossing the road. An old lady was
crossing with us. A drunken driver was coming towards us in his car. He
wasn't driving that fast, but he was aiming the old lady! I pushed the old
lady aside. I jumped across the street, but it was too late. The car hit
me in my leg," he said looking down at his leg enveloped by a bandage.

"And...?"

"Well nothing serious. My flimsy bone in my ankle got dislocated. It will
be okay in a week or so."

"Let us go home now."

Jake was looking at me with a blank face.

"Jake?"

Suddenly Jake let go of the crutches, blacked out and fell down on the
floor.

"Are you his
brother?" a Doc asked me.

"No, his friend." What has happened to Jake? Is it internal bleeding? Is
it serious? Please tell me!

"Look, nothing is wrong with Jake. We took his ankle X-ray, knee X-ray,
every bone of his is in place. He just has one his ankle bone dislocated,
which will go into place in some time."

"Why did he black out?"

"He fainted because of the stress he experienced today. And I think he
hasn't eaten anything in some time. He is perfectly fine. Although he
should not walk much this week."

"Thank you Doctor" I love you for telling me nothing is wrong with Jake.

"Anytime. And it is a very brave thing that he did, you know?"

"Yes, Doctor."

"So you promise you won't faint this time?" I mocked Jake.

"Yeah. I promise. Please get me out of here. I want to go home!" Jake
whined.

I helped Jake walk to his room and helped him to lie on his bed. I brought
a mattress from my room and spread it on the floor.

"What the heck are you doing?" Jake asked me.

"I'm sleeping on the floor."

"Why?"

"What if you need something in the night?"

"Josh, you know you don't have to do this."

"Just shut up and go to sleep. You need rest. Just tonight."

I stayed awake the entire night.

Right at 7
AM Jake's alarm went off. I stood up, Jake was still asleep. I reset the
alarm to 7:01 and it started ringing again. Jake, got up.

"How are you?" I asked him.

"You are scaring me!"

"You seem all right!"

"Yeah."

Jake got up and then kept his feet on the floor. He then stood up.

"Ouwwww"

I held him by his shoulders.

"Well, not perfectly all right I guess"

I walked him to the hall and made breakfast.

"Jake you are not going to play hero and save the old woman of this
country okay?"

"Ha-ha...all right!"

"You are too precious to waste your life like that!" Too precious to me.

One week had
passed swiftly. Jake got better every day and he got rid of the crutches
and the bandage on the sixth day. He was A-Okay!

Sam was on the line:

"Josh?"

"Yeah Sam, tell me!"

"Are you free tomorrow?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Adam and I are going for dinner at my father's new restaurant. I wanted
you to come along."

"Sure. Can I bring someone along?"

"Who?"

"Err...my boyfriend,"

"Boyfriend? Since when did you have a boy friend Josh?"

"Jake!"

"Whoa! Jake is gay! You are really lucky dude."

"I know!"

Josh gave me the address to his father's `yet another' new
restaurant.

"Be there at nine thirty, okay?"

"Sure."

I replaced the receiver. Jake came in just then.

"You know my best friend Adam?"

"Yeah. You mentioned something about him and Sam, but nothing much."

I sat with Jake for two hours and told him everything about Adam and how
he got hooked up with Sam.

The next
evening:

"I want us to go out tonight!" Jake said.

"Well...we are going to Sam's restaurant."

"No. Now! Come with me."

"It is 7:30!"

"Just come."

We took a cab, as Jake wasn't going to reveal our destination. He even
secretly told the cab driver where we wanted to go!

"What is this? Hey! This is a club..." I said.

"Yeah!" Jake said.

"Wait a minute, there are only guys here!"

I understood where we were. I looked at Jake. He nodded in affirmation.
Jake had taken me to a gay club! I was all smiles!

The club was filled with boys mostly in their 20s. We had drinks and then
danced. I was dancing with Jake, his hands holding my hip, my head resting
on his shoulders I started wondering – is this real? Is Jake for real? Can
someone be as happy as me? I didn't care. I was happy now and I wanted to
live every moment of it.

"Jake, this
is Adam. And you know Sam."

"Hi" Adam said.

"So how are you guys?" I asked Sam and Adam.

"Leave us; tell us about your boy friend!" Adam said.

"Well as you know he is my room mate and I guess I just got lucky!" I
said. Very lucky.

"Cool. We guys are doing fine. Sam is not yet cheating on me."

Sam groaned.

I laughed. "So what is for dinner?"

"Well we are eating Italian food today" Sam said.

"Great" Jake said.

"So where is Jake from?" Adam asked.

"I live here. My parents used to live here, but my dad got transferred to
Boston."

"Boston!" Sam said "It is a great place Jake!"

"Yeah, I know" Jake said.

"You know what guys? We should go out somewhere...all four of us?"

"Where?" I said excited.

"My treat! My father is involved in developing a tourist spot some miles
from here."

"And...?" I said.

"There is a hotel there, fully developed. Maybe we can go there!"

"I don't know Sam..."

"I insist."

"Okay. Whatever you say!" I said.

We had the perfect night out and everyone got along fine.

"Sam called in today. He said he has confirmed two rooms for us! We will
leave Friday evening and be back Sunday night." Jake said.

"A whole weekend together!"

"Yeah! I can't wait!"

Later that night after dinner Jake and I slept on his bed, just talking!

"Jake...I want to come out to my parents..."

"You must be crazy...but...then, I don't know your parents. I don't know how
they will react."

"My father will probably not want to see me again, but my mom...I don't
know."
I placed my chin on Jake's muscular chest. "Do you plan to...?"

"No way dude. My folks are not the `understanding' type. I depend on them
now and I can't risk anything to spoil my relationship with my parents."

I can't risk anything to spoil my relationship with my parents.

"Then we will wait. Maybe when we marry we will tell them."

"Marry?"

"Why, you won't marry me?"

"Maybe not now, but I'm prepared to do something else now." Jake said. He
slid his arms inside my tee shirt and started caressing my nipples. He
then kissed me. How I wanted to feel his soft lips on mine forever!

The next day
I woke up on Jake's bed. He was still asleep.

"Jake...!" I said. No response.

I got up; I had to get ready for my 9AM class. I needed a long hot shower
to freshen me up. I undressed myself and stepped into the hot shower. I
smiled at myself recollecting how we had made love twice the previous
night. The phone was ringing. Damn!

I turned the shower off. I hesitated to grab a towel, but didn't, why
would I be shy around Jake? I ran to the hall and picked up the receiver.
The cold was getting on to me.

"Hello"

"Hello. You must be Josh."

"Yeah."

"Josh! This is Jake's mom. Can I speak to him?"

Suddenly I become conscious of my nudity.

"Sure Mrs. Parker. Hold on"

I ran to Jake's room and shook him. "Jake! Jake!"

He woke up with a startle. "What?"

"Your mom is on the phone."

"Ohh...what does she want? And when did you start roaming naked like this?"

"I was in the shower! Now get up and talk to her."

I retired to my shower again. I could hear Jake talking to his mother.
Minutes passed by and now I could hear no more talking.

Suddenly I
felt someone catching my hips from behind. Jake was pressing on to me from
behind. I could feel his penis sticking to my butt. I turned out and there
he was - my lover. He kissed me gently.

"You got class early?"

"Yeah."

I took the soap and started applying it on my arms.

"Let me help you!" Jake said. He grabbed the soap bar from my hand and
gently rubbed it on my body.

I never knew how amazing it was to be bathed by someone else! We were now
hugging each other as the water made its way from our heads to our toes.